Latest market data

Stock search

In his book The Direct Mail Solution, direct
marketing expert and entrepreneur Craig Simpson provides
easy-to-follow solutions for creating direct mail campaigns
that work! In this edited excerpt, the author outlines the
seven critical parts you should include in every direct mail
sales piece.

If you were building a model airplane, it wouldn't be any good to
make most of it great but to leave off the left wing or connect
the rudder upside-down. You would completely undo all your good
work by being sloppy in even one area. If the airplane is going
to be worth anything at all, every part of it has to be perfect.

It's the same with your direct mail sales piece -- you want to
get the absolute most out of every one of its parts, and you
don't want to skimp on anything. The success of your business is
riding on your sales piece doing its job. That means you have to
give each section the attention it deserves.

Every sales piece has exactly the same elements, no matter how
long it is. Whether your sales piece is a postcard, a two-page
letter or a 36-page booklet, it will have all or most of the
following parts. Make sure you give attention to each one that
you include.

Headline. You have to grab your reader's
interest in just a few seconds, and the best way to do that is
with a great headline. It can be just a few words long, or it can
be several sentences., but it has to capture interest and make or
imply a promise that you're offering something that will be of
great value to the reader--and they'd better read the piece right
away to find out what it is. Getting the right headline is job
one!

Benefits. The one question every potential buyer
is going to ask is, "What is this going to do for me?" So
throughout your piece, you have to keep piling on the
benefits.
And keep in mind that it's benefits, not features, that sell.
That new car may have the most advanced engine, but the buyer
wants to hear that he'll be able to drive fast and impress the
neighbors. That new diet supplement may have an impressive list
of ingredients, but the buyer wants to know it will make her
husband love her and her friends envy her.

Always stress benefits that will appeal to your audience. If
you're selling a money-making opportunity to a novice audience,
you would want to stress that it's easy to learn with no
experience needed. If your audience is a group of veteran
traders, you would want to stress that this is a new and
profitable trading technique they've never seen before.

The offer and call to action. By the time your
reader comes to the end of the sales piece, there should be no
doubt as to what to do next. You want to create a sense of
urgency by providing a call to action. As we say in the business,
"Always ask for the order."

And you want people to act right away. If they put the sales
piece down, even if they're interested, they'll soon forget about
it. All that enthusiasm you worked so hard to develop will fade
out.

To avoid that happening, you can encourage people to act
immediately by offering an incentive for buying within a certain
time period. It could be a special reduced price, a bonus gift or
any other extra you want to throw in if they'll just "act now."

Another way to encourage action is to make it clear how easy it
is to respond and that with your toll-free number, they don't
have to pay for the call. With today's calling plans, many people
don't pay for individual calls anyway, but there's something
about a toll-free number that's very appealing. It's a
psychological thing.

The P.S. Research shows that one of the most
important parts of a sales letter is the P.S. Very often people
will look at the opening of the piece, then turn to the back to
see what the offer is. If there's a P.S. there, they'll often
read it before anything else.

So make sure you always put an appealing P.S. that reiterates the
most important points of your sales pitch. Remember, you want
every part of your piece to work hard for you. Make sure your
P.S. is doing everything it can to clinch the sale.

The order form. If you're using an order form
with your piece, this is your last chance to sell your product
and convince your prospect to go ahead and make the purchase.
Always include brief, attractive copy about the product, its
benefits and the offer.

The guarantee. OK, this is optional, but it can
be very powerful. Your potential buyer may be very tempted but
still afraid to lose money. If you put in a satisfaction
guarantee, it can convince prospects sitting on the fence to go
ahead and try your product because they "have nothing to lose."

The BRE. This is also optional. If you would
like your prospects to respond by mail, you can consider
inserting a business reply envelope (BRE) into your mailing
package. The BRE is preaddressed to you, and the prospect doesn't
have to put postage on the envelope (the post office bills you
postage for each envelope mailed back to you). By making it easy
for your prospect to respond, you may increase response rates.

Just as it pays to point out to prospects that they can call
using a toll-free number, make sure your prospects know they can
send in their order form postage paid. Not only is it free, but
they don't have to go to the bother of finding a stamp!

Use all the parts of your sales piece to full advantage. Don't be
satisfied with any part of the piece that just "gets by." Put as
much care into each aspect of your piece as possible, and it will
work hard for you.